Crime or Stupidity

1953 Corvette 

Before I even get into the body of this post, let me clarify that I am not looking for absolution especially because the statute of limitations is long past.  Back in the early high school years when I purchased my first car (used1956 Ford Victoria) in the early 60’s, I was the man (at least one of three).  The best 3 cars at my high school (in order of bragging rights) were a 1953 Chevrolet Corvette Roadster (Ron’s family owned and operated the local Funeral Home) (side note:  I hated wrestling against him during team practice because whenever he applied or attempted to apply a half-nelson his hands would be near my face and they smelled of formaldehyde), the second car was a 1956 Ford Thunderbird (Dave’s parents owned a couple of used car lots), the third car was my car 1956 Ford Victoria with a moon roof.  I worked hard for my car.

One of my best friends (also Hispanic) at the time liked my car so much that he bought a car just like mine but a year older (1955) and the same color.  Well, the stage is set for the question of Crime or Stupidity.

One fine weekend I was driving in a neighboring small town, and had the opportunity to show off in front if some young men from a rival high school, and I did.  I floored the gas pedal as I took off from an intersection (with some gravel at the stop sign).  As I took off, making lots of noise with my Cherry Bomb Glasspack dual exhaust mufflers, the car fishtailed and I know the guys were impressed.  Unfortunately two blocks later a local police officer pulled me over sirens blasting and all.

I must admit my legs felt weak, but I was able to control all my other bodily functions (James Dean or Marlon Brando I wasn’t).  Actually whenever I drove my car, I felt more like Robert Mitchum (the character from Thunder Road).  I had a split second to decide what I was going to do or say and that is where Stupidity comes in.  When the office approached my window he noticed I was very young and he decided to pile it on.  His first question was; “Was that you making all that racket I heard?”

I was trying to be firm but polite and didn’t want to further aggravate him.  I said, I don’t know what you heard, but I did spin my tires taking off from a stop sign a couple of blocks back due to some gravel at the intersection.

He said you weren’t taking off, you mean blasting off.  He next asked me for my driver’s license, and this is where I decided to lie.  I said I didn’t have my wallet with me.  I had left it at home when I changed pants.  He asked me for my name, and I gave him the name of my best friend (the one that owned a car like mine).  When he asked for an address, I gave him my friends address.

He said since I didn’t see you making all that noise and driving recklessly, I’m going to let you get off with a warning, but I will keep your name on the dash of my patrol car, and if I ever stop you again, I will throw the book at you. 

I’ve never told this to anyone, because I wasn’t proud of myself, but at this point I really didn’t want to take it to my grave.  As guilty as I feel I still wouldn’t dare confess to my friend.  Life has been great, now that the slate is clean, I can consider myself an honorable man again.  The best is yet to come……….. 

My Brother’s Keeper

My Brother’s Keeper

• A saying from the Bible's story of Cain and Abel. After Cain had murdered his brother Abel, God asked him where his brother was. Cain answered, “I know not; am I my brother's keeper?” 

• Important to many Christians is the idea that we are all our brothers' keepers - usually taken to mean that we have some responsibility to watch out for and care for one another.

If you like I and many others of this age group were brought up with love and strict discipline, then you entered into the world of adulthood with great values built in.  When my mother told me that I didn’t have her permission to do something or go somewhere (even if I thought she would never find out if I disobeyed), I wouldn’t do it.  My rationale for not doing it, was that I knew that if I disobeyed and got caught, whatever punishment I received would not be as painful as knowing that my disobedience would break her heart.  I didn’t fear her, I respected and loved her.

Amongst the many values that she instilled in me probably the most important was that we took care of our own.  If a family member fell on hard times, it was first and foremost up to the family to come to the rescue.  If the immediate family’s resources or efforts weren’t sufficient you reached out to the next level of family for assistance (cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents).  Failing with that effort, your next step was the church, and your very last resort would be the government.  We were always required to settle things at the lowest level possible (family first).

We were always ready to lend a helping hand to our neighbors, but were not allowed to go to them with our problems.  If a family member, God forbid, ended up on public assistance, it was considered a shame for the rest of the family.  If for no other reason, our failure to rescue our own.

While late in my forties I entertained the idea of running for public office after retirement.  My platform was going to be strengthening the family unit.  My reasoning was that if every family unit was strong, who would remain roaming the streets causing trouble.  Since that time, I’ve decided to keep my family unit strong and encourage friends and extended family members to implement my original plan.  I was afraid to get so involved in saving the world, that I might do damage to the most important thing in my life (my family).

When we take the phrase “My Brother’s Keeper,” and take it to mean all of human kind, it becomes such an overwhelming task that even mega wealthy people like Bill Gates can’t measure up to the task.  There are many other ways that we can follow diligently to full fill the commitment to be My Brother’s Keeper in the broader spectrum.  Just as we turn to our church before we turn to government, we can pay our monthly tithe to our church so they can help others.  Although I also pay my taxes diligently, I have little faith that my tax dollars will be used wisely.  Recent statistic show that there is more poverty and need today than twenty years ago, so much work and commitment is needed.

Don’t let your guard down on your own family unit, but keep up the effort and don’t give up against overwhelming odds.  The best is yet to come…..

Karma and Me

Karma and Me

Karma

• The relationship of karma to causality is a central motif in all schools of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist thought. The theory of karma as causality holds that (1) executed actions of an individual affects the individual and the life he or she lives, and (2) the intentions of an individual affects the individual and the life he or she lives. Disinterested actions, or unintentional actions do not have the same positive or negative karmic effect, as interested and intentional actions. In Buddhism, for example, actions that are performed, or arise, or originate without any bad intent such as covetousness, are considered non-existent in karmic impact or neutral in influence to the individual.
• Another causality characteristic, shared by Karmic theories, is that like deeds lead to like effects. Thus good karma produces good effect on the actor, while bad karma produces bad effect. This effect may be material, moral or emotional — that is, one's karma affects one's happiness and unhappiness.^[25] The effect of karma need not be immediate; the effect of karma can be later in one's current life, and in some schools it extends to future lives.^[27]

Karma is a very strong principle supported (or believed) by a majority of people.  However, Karma is a principle that requires patience, an attitude (virtue) not in ample supply in most people.  One of the funniest things I remember seeing many years ago was a poster of a man looking up to the sky and the caption read: “God please give me patience, and I need it now!!”

During my early years as an adult like most people I had opportunities to be patient and allow karma to work its magic and right a wrong.  I would dare say that approximately 50 percent of the time justice to some degree was served.  Perhaps up to 100 percent would have been served but I wasn’t about to sit around and wait forever.  One of the things that most people don’t realize is that karma outcomes are not tit-for-tat.  In other words a wrong won’t come back to the individual exactly as he or she did.  As an example a person may cut in front of you while waiting in a line only to step on a banana peel and fall right in front of you while still in line.  Now, that would be karma perfection at work. 

Usually the real payback is that this individual may leave the store after cutting in line in front of you to find that somebody scratched his car in the parking lot or broke a window.  There were occasions in my early 20’s and 30’s when I found myself giving karma a helping hand.  The trick to this kind of activity is not to have the desire to be seen as the person that got even.  You take the action necessary to even the score without needing the credit or to be seen holding the smoking gun (no guns involved in actuality).  Self-satisfaction is the end goal here.

If your perpetrators are in your everyday life, you allow enough time to pass so you won’t be suspected.  I am talking about evening the score by exposing the individual for who they really are.  You may find yourself in a position to interview the individual for a job or promotion (vote accordingly).  You may see him/her by the side of the road with his car broke down (just keep going and act as if you didn’t see anything).  The possibilities are endless. 

On the other hand you may decide to rise above it all and just let karma work it’s magic.  Depending on your personal preference and personality you may just sleep better.  As for me I am getting to a place in life where I need patience and I need it now!  The best is yet to come…..

Guilty Until Otherwise Proven

Guilty Until Otherwise Proven

This is as close as I’ve come to a life sentence, but I must say, what a way to go.  I swear my life has had enough experience for at least 5 lifetimes.  What I am about to share was so scary at the time that many, many, many years later I’ve never told anyone.  When it happened, most everyone at the school became aware but because it was passed on mouth to ear it must have been distorted.  Like most drama in high school, it was shortly replaced with the next rumor or gossip.

During my years in high school I had the easiest and best time imaginable.  I lettered in 3 sports (Football, Wrestling and Track and Field), I carried a 4.0 GPA and I don’t remember spending much time studying.  My recollection is that I would wait until a couple of days before a test to review all the material that we were going be to be tested on.  My memory would retain all the information freshly reviewed (those were the days), and I would consciously command my mind to release it from storage out of the brain after the test.  Without knowing about the future and how computer memory would work, I assumed that by consciously releasing it, I could start from scratch remembering things that were useful as I went along (in other words “delete”).

Well, enough background for this post.  My experience was such that I would look forward to going to school, and enjoyed every little detail about the experience.  I was in good standing with all my teachers and the administration.  The school principal held me in high regard, and I often was called to assist teaching English to the Cuban Refugees.  Eventually I went on to have my own 30 minute daily class to work with the Cuban students.

Finally, for “the rest of the story.”  I remember the day like it was a month ago; my third period had just started (the class: Washington History, my teacher was Mr. Brown).  Mr. Brown had just assigned us to read a chapter in preparation for a quiz.  I was concentrating so intently as I read, that I didn’t notice when the principal walked into the room, and approached my sitting area from the rear of the room to call me out of the classroom.  When he leaned over to talk to me quietly, I was so surprised that I almost jump out of my seat.  Other students had a good laugh because they had been tracking the principal as he walked around looking for his target (me).

I remember his words to me as we walked to his office:  Without telling me what the meeting was about, he said; “son, I want you to know that I will be with you in the room to maintain control and to give you all the support you will need, I will help you get through this.”

When we arrived to the office area, I noticed that all the staff (all ladies except the assistant principal) were actually staring at me, and I couldn’t tell if it was a look of pity or disbelief.  I nodded at the staff as we walked by, the principal was holding his arm around my shoulder.  I am willing to bet that even the principal’s arm around my shoulder was a non-typical event.  It was almost as if the principal was trying to reassure me, but I still didn’t know about what, other than of his personal and professional support.

When we reached his office which seemed to take forever, he opened the door and showed me in.  As I walked through the door I was surprised to see one of the prettiest girls in the school accompanied by her mother and father.  I reached out to shake their hand and no surprise to me they reached out and shook my hand in return.  Please understand that I will change the names to protect the innocent.  The young lady shall be called Brandy Johnson. 

I have a personal policy about not making my posts too long, so please be patient, as I will quickly finish part 2, and post it.  The best is yet to come…………….

Sooner or Later

Puerto Vallarta

During more innocent times I used to think that some things happening elsewhere in the world would not touch my life or affect me in any way.  Well, reality struck home.  When 9-11 happened it seemed like, that world event would not be reaching the west coast (at least for the first 5 or 6 months it seemed that way).

My business continued to move right along as it always had (entertainment business).  Wedding bookings kept coming in as they always had.  While emotionally and even physically we were affected, it seemed that we had weathered the brunt of the affect that people on the east coast had endured.

Almost on cue right at about 6 months, my business was cut by about 40%.  Living in Western Washington, I should have known that the military bases would affect the economy. 

Young men and women as well as men and women of eligible military age were enlisting by previously unseen numbers.   Weddings and other life celebrations were being postponed indefinitely, due to the war effort.  That was the beginning of my realization that not only our country but in fact the world was intricately connected.  The next major affected change was my love for travel.  Airport security and baggage policies made me curtail my travel by approximately 90%.  The inconveniences and higher costs were just not worth the effort to maintaining my love for travel.

Airport security lines

If you had audio on this post you would hear the drum roll right about now.  Here is the most recent way that world events have touched my family.  One of my sons recently booked a vacation for two to Puerto Vallarta, and no sooner had he received confirmation that the State Department issued a ban on travel to Puerto Vallarta.  The reason for the ban was the daily battles going on in the city streets between law enforcement and the drug cartel gunmen.

• The Canadian and U.S. embassies in Mexico have issued warnings for tourists and travelers in and around Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara after another outbreak of drug-gang-related violence.
• The warning includes reports that gas stations, banks and other buildings have been set on fire in the states of Jalisco and Colima. Municipal police in Puerto Vallarta are asking residents and visitors to remain in their homes and hotels.

Fortunately because of the State Department’s ruling on the matter, my son was able to get a full refund and switch his vacation destination to Hawaii.  Once upon a time a visit to Mexico was as simple as crossing the border or boarding an airplane.  Anymore you need to check the money exchange, the weather forecast, prices for flight and accommodations, plus body count in your choice of destination.

Hawaii

I can’t help but wonder if we will ever return to the days of rule and order.  A time when money and drugs or fanaticism won’t be the ultimate barrier to peaceful coexistence.  How do you rule in a society where a large portion of the people don’t fear dying in pursuit of their greed, addiction, or extremist views?  Hopefully; the best is yet to come………

For Better or Worst (A Society of Laws)

For Better or Worst (A Society of Laws)

Most recently the subject of governing laws (rules) came into my life once again.  Every so often the subject comes up unexpectedly, if for no other reason, because we are a society of laws.  As the best example I can think of very four year we have presidential elections and that is a big example of how we have, not only the right but more importantly the responsibility to take part in the process.  After all the Commander in Chief is the head of our government, and will actively or passively will affect what new laws are passed or focused on.  It seems that every president comes to the position of power with a preconceived agenda.  Most often it’s that agenda (campaign promises) that get them elected or not.

The party that the presidential candidate represents will have very strong influence on the president’s platform.  This blog is not about politics, and if I am not careful it will get away from me.  So I will now carefully get back to the main topic.  For better or worst.

Earlier in our lives the laws were not as all-encompassing as they are today.  The biggest reason for the basis of that statement is that our family heads (moms and dads) use to exercise more control and vigilance over our own immediate families and responsibilities. As an example I don’t remember the local policeman ever brining me home because of curfew violation.  I knew what time I was supposed to be home, and I arrived with plenty of time.

I was also aware that if I misbehaved in school my teacher would have a conversation with my mom and or dad or both, and I would have to pay the price (punishment doled out by my parents).  I attended Catholic School and the teachers (nuns) exercised corporal punishment (the board of education was made out of real wood).  Believe you me, if I ever got a swat or two or three swats at school I knew better than to go home and complain, because I may just get seconds at home.

Less rules (laws) were needed back then because in the 50’s and even up until the 70’s most homes were made up of one working parent, and the other parent got to stay home and manage the family.  I know that today it sounds weird, but believe me, it makes a big difference whether the children are being raised by a parent or a daycare.  Unfortunately, with the high cost of everything in our economic challenging times, unless a couple wins the lotto they will never experience the pleasure and benefits of having one of two parents staying home to manage the family.  It’s not unusual in today’s economy to have a $200 plus cell phone or TV/cable bill. Those level of services are not necessary but for the most part they are a reality.

The average transaction price for a new vehicle set a record of $31,252 in August, according to TrueCar.com.  My parents bought a brand new 4 door Ford Custom, as loaded as it came, right off of the showroom floor for under $3,000.00.  The payments were around $28 per month. We’ve come a long way baby.

The rules that inspired this post have to do with managing our neighborhood development.  We are at a crossroad (after 20 plus years) where maintenance costs are almost prohibitive.  So the question is; do we, individually as home owners, increase the membership dues to cover the cost (we are talking about tripling the annual fees) or dissolve the association, and fend for ourselves.  Sounds easy enough but consider the issues recently handled by the association board; Neighbors (most likely tenants not owners) trying to raise goats and chickens (in their backyards), abandoned cars on the streets, vandalism, lawns not maintained, disputes between neighbors, etc.,, etc..  I say quadruple the fees and build up a reserve.  Just sometimes rules are necessary.  The next post will deal with the cost of oil prices.  The best is yet to come….